The Macomb Daily's Chuck Pleiness conducted a lengthy interview with Red Wings forward Patrick Eaves (and Wings GM Ken Holland) about Eaves' decision to sign a one-year contract with Detroit at an NHL-minimum $500,000 after being traded to and then bought out by the Boston Bruins last summer.

Eaves states the obvious regarding the Wings' philosophy in developing players like himself:

April 4, Macomb Daily: "This organization gives players opportunities to play with confidence," Eaves said. "You go out, work hard and the opportunity will come."

Wings GM Ken Holland says this about signing Eaves...

"He was looking for an opportunity," general manager Ken Holland said. "We've had some success with players coming into here who were looking for an opportunity. Everybody hopes you can get a Dan Cleary," Holland added. "He's a player that fit our system. He's got skill. We've got a comfortable environment in our locker room that has been a good fit for other players looking for an opportunity."

Eaves states that he enjoys killing penalties and even prides himself on the painful job of blocking shots, that he doesn't want to get "comfortable" regarding his status in a fun-to-play-for organization--an organization which will obviously re-sign the 25-year-old restricted free agent-to-be to a multi-year contract this summer--and he certainly appreciates the leadership which surrounds him both in the form of Kris Draper, who plays right wing alongside Eaves and Darren Helm, and the rest of the Wings' veterans:

"Drapes been right on my side the whole time since training camp," Eaves said. "He's made it possible for me to be playing the way I am right now. I can't thank him enough for what he's done for me. He's a great friend. You just relax and play and don't worry about anything else. This locker room is full of leaders," Eaves added. "It's a credit to guys like Drapes, (Nicklas Lidstrom), (Brian Rafalski) and (Chris Osgood). You see players in the past that have found a spot here. It's because of them."

The Detroit News's Chris McCosky offers Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk huge praise in stating that Datsyuk stands with Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the "most breathtaking athlete" he's watched, duly noting that Datsyuk's off-ice resemblance to a slightly short version of Lurch from the Addams Family does not match his on-ice brilliance:

April 4, Detroit News: If you didn't know him, and saw him without hockey gear, you'd never suspect Datsyuk to be a world-class athlete. He walks a bit hunched over. His gait is somewhat crab-like, almost like he's still skating, even on dry land.

But put him on skates and he's Houdini on ice. He is not the fastest skater by a long shot, but there can't be too many who are stronger or more flexible. Checking him has to feel like checking Gumby. You might get a piece of him, but he bounces away, moving faster thanks to the leverage he gained from your check. His hands, too, are incredibly strong. He can paralyze players with his stick, whether he's pinning them or lifting their sticks to steal the puck.

The Red Wings didn't view Datsyuk's goal and near-assist in their 4-3 victory over Nashville as anything out of the ordinary, however:

"Everything is working for him, and he continues to work hard," Lidstrom said. "That's what's so good about him. I don't know how many times he's back-checked and taken the puck away from guys and then start us going the other way. He's just really on a roll right now."

Datsyuk had 11 goals on Jan. 23. He was on pace for his worst offensive season in Detroit. When we talked at that time, he said his goal still was to score at least 30 goals. I thought he was joking. It didn't seem possible. Well, here we are on April 4 and he has 26 goals. He's had 15 goals and 16 assists the last 27 games. And that's just one side of the ice. Against Columbus Thursday, his line completely shut down 33-goal scorer Rick Nash. Datsyuk leads the league in takeaways (125) and he leads the league in making opposing defensemen look stupid.

"It's like you almost expect it from him," said Franzen. "We all know how good he can be. But some of the shots and moves he pulls off are almost like, well, you can't believe it. Even if I tried 100 times I couldn't do it. He's pretty special. It's fun to play with him."

McCosky suggests that Wings fans ought not to take Datsyuk's play for granted, and I'd agree with him, but suggest the same for Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg and even Tomas Holmstrom. Sometimes the latter doesn't astonish you aesthetically, but Holmstrom and Datsyuk serve as a fantastically effective odd couple, and the other two players aren't shabby, either.

The Red Wings have found some fantastic players over the past two decades, and it's a joy to watch them at work.

I hope we can keep Patrick. He's been great on the penalty kill, he has a lot of energy out on the ice, and I've kinda got a personal bias for keeping him - he and I have the same birthday, although I have a few years on him.

I hope we can keep Patrick. He's been great on the penalty kill, he has a lot of energy out on the ice, and I've kinda got a personal bias for keeping him - he and I have the same birthday, although I have a few years on him.

one off-topic question. What does it mean in English when few words are put in parentheses? For example, in that article regarding Eaves I see "It's a credit to guys like Drapes, (Nicklas Lidstrom), (Brian Rafalski) and (Chris Osgood)." Is it so that he didn't mention Lidstrom, Rafalsi, and Osgood? Or are those guys assumed by default?

Sweet. This dude was brought here for one reason, to punch people in the head - every other thing that he can do, other Wings can do better. I like that we have a head-puncher. The league has other, better head-punchers, but this one is ours. Better than nothing. Good work, Kenny!

one off-topic question. What does it mean in English when few words are put in parentheses? For example, in that article regarding Eaves I see "It's a credit to guys like Drapes, (Nicklas Lidstrom), (Brian Rafalski) and (Chris Osgood)." Is it so that he didn't mention Lidstrom, Rafalsi, and Osgood? Or are those guys assumed by default?

Sometimes they will be put in when the person being quoted calls the person by their first name

one off-topic question. What does it mean in English when few words are put in parentheses? For example, in that article regarding Eaves I see "It's a credit to guys like Drapes, (Nicklas Lidstrom), (Brian Rafalski) and (Chris Osgood)." Is it so that he didn't mention Lidstrom, Rafalsi, and Osgood? Or are those guys assumed by default?

It's basically saying that whatever he did say was in reference to those players. For example, he could have said "...guys like Drapes, Lids, Rafi and Ozzie" and for whatever reason the writer chose to put their full names instead of the nickname. Not really sure why he didn't do the same for Draper, but maybe that nickname is close enough to the real name that he didn't feel like it needed clarification. It's just a way for the writer to make a quotation more clear without directly changing the words that came from the player's mouth.